Weekly Thoughts are published every Wednesday on our Facebook page and soon after here on our website. Every month we produce a pdf file of the previous 4 thoughts. If you’d like a copy please email sjekillileagh@gmail.com. Printer copies are also available in the church.
And God said, “Let there be light”. Right at the beginning, on the first day of the creation of the world (Genesis 1:3), God wanted to make a difference between day and night, light and darkness.
Light prospers us by keeping us healthy, supporting our development and keeping us safe. Light also enables the many and varied types of plant life to flourish as well as an enormous variety of animals to breed and grow. Perhaps as a child, you were frightened of the dark, even as adults we can experience fear. We all know some bad things can happen in the dark.
Jesus talked about bad things happening in the dark as a way of describing sinful acts He said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). He was telling us he had come to highlight the wrong doings that were/are occurring, and he had come to show us a better way, God’s way. He added, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” The light of life enabling us to lead a Godly life.
Jesus didn’t come to punish us for our sins, but to forgive us. This is the true example of God’s love as we are told He remembers them no more (Hebrews10:17). We may remember what we did wrong, but His forgiveness is complete. He came to show us a way where we could be free from sin and by following His example live more satisfying lives where we are safe, grow and thrive. Jesus wants the best for us!
Jesus is our beacon of hope in what at times seems like a very dark world. There is a praise song which likens Jesus to ‘our lighthouse’ with the lyric “Shining in the darkness, I will follow You”, exactly what Jesus wants us to do, follow Him. The lyrics show us what life can be like when we follow Jesus and give our lives to him:
I won’t fear what tomorrow brings,
With each morning I’ll rise and sing
My God’s love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
God wants us to live our lives trusting in him and doing His will. Another hymn says “Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light”. We feel better walking on the ’light’ path because the contentment we have when we know Him, we will make us different, we will ‘shine’! Others will notice our difference, we will be Jesus light, showing others what knowing Him means in our life and can mean in theirs.
Spend some time this week thinking about the times when you are not on the path God has chosen for you. Pray to God for forgiveness and ask Him to put you, and keep you, on His path, in the Light.